


One Hot Stuckup Slytherin Girl

by RRGrokesyn



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Blackmail, F/F, Humor, Teen Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-08-06
Updated: 2014-08-06
Packaged: 2018-02-12 02:59:06
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 19,133
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2093088
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RRGrokesyn/pseuds/RRGrokesyn
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Really, things never been this complicated, not this soon, at least. But I think I asked for it, crushing on both my homophobic best friend and the hottest straight girl in school, didn't I?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Fire and Fiery Redheads

**Author's Note:**

> Since I've been writing an awful lot here, I decided to put some of my old fics, which were solely on FF.net, here as well. Just the complete ones, though, I don't want to torture anyone and I've got plenty on my plate, by making Skye and Jemma interacting in two different, very explicit, stories.  
> Hope you guys enjoy!
> 
>  **Original opening note**  
>  Hello, people!  
> This is my very first fan fiction in a really, really long time – I put quite some work on it last week, I hope you enjoy reading it as much I did writing it! I have to confess my slight inspiration on the fascinating character that is Olive Penderghast (Emma Stone in Easy A) so, in case someone notices similarities, they're on purpose.
> 
> But first, some warnings: this fic has a lot of cursing, some really explicit scenes (as explicit as they get, actually) and lots of lesbians! Yes, big bad scary lesbians talkin' dirty and havin' sex so, if this kind of stuff offends you, please, move you don't, well, read on and tell me what you think, I'd love to hear it, so I can make it better for you! Second warning: I trust my spellcheck, but I don't trust my knowledge of English, so don't hesitate to tell me if you find mistakes, it would be a lot of help.
> 
> Secondly, I have to say all the settings, Hermione, Ginny, Ron, Luna, Harry, they all belong to J. K. Rowling, who did a brilliant job in creating such world.  
> I do, however, own my character (the lovely blonde you'll meet in a few paragraphs) and I certainly gave Rowling's characters a new interpretation (they as still hers, though).
> 
> Lastly, I have to thank immensely my adorable girlfriend for having an enormous amount of patience and helping me get every scene just right (i.e. just the way I wanted it to be), so she reread this chapter a thousand times and deserves a big credit for the final results (and none of the blame, if it sucks, after all, I wrote it).
> 
> Happy reading!

Lunchtime at the Great Hall is never that eventful. However, itʼs still precious time for students to catch up, especially with members of different houses, who wonʼt be able to join us in the common room later. Sometimes, thereʼs even some kiss-and-tell moments, which is exactly us right now: Ginny Weasley, that more-than-pretty sister of my best friend Ron, one of my closest friends and Hogwartsʼ sweetheart, is telling me and Luna all about her latest date with a random Ravenclaw boy – to be more exact, how disastrous it was. Those arenʼt news, though, Iʼm sure thatʼs the tenth or eleventh situation like this since the beginning of the school year and weʼre still in November, but Iʼm a good friend, so I never fail to play the part and laugh along.

She wraps the story up and throws her head back in laughter. Luna uses the opportunity to glance me sympathetically and I smile – I never did actually tell her about my more-than-friendly feelings for Ginny, but that's Luna for you: she communicates with her imaginary creatures and they fill her in, in everything, apparently. She flashes her dimples back and turns to catch Ginnyʼs eyes precisely when they were to fall on hers.

"Heʼs a nice guy, Scott", she says in a small, unpretentious, voice.

"Iʼm not denying that", Ginny grins, half defensively, half playfully, "I just happen to think heʼs a horrible kisser, thatʼs all", she finishes with a chuckle; oh no, another deja vu.

"And I think Iʼve heard you say that about every guy you kissed", True story, Luna.

"Come on, that's not true!" Ginny's trying to play it cool, with that grin, but I can see right through that, especially because of the light red tone that's all over her face. However, I feel bad about Luna single-handling this situation when I agree throughout with her.

"Sheʼs right, Gin, you kind of always say that. Maybe youʼre just going for the wrong type", she scowls and Iʼm getting nervous, "of guy" I add quickly, hoping to patch things up, but it backfires, she scowls further, narrows her darkened blue eyes, her heavily freckled nose wrinkling in the process and bites her lower lip – oh, Merlin, donʼt you bloody do that to me, Ginevra Weasley, Iʼm feeling all hot and bothered already.

"Really?", she spits incredulously, leaving her lips parted in a very sexy way.

I donʼt answer that, in part because I donʼt believe what I just said (at least the guy part), but mainly because Iʼm too caught up in her charms to make something up that quickly.

"Do you have a suggestion on who I should date, then? I suppose you're relying on your overwhelming experience on the subject" her bitter words bring me back to reality rather aggressively.

"Well, I'm sorry if I just wanted to see you actually liking a date for once!", ops, that went out wrong, but at least Iʼm telling the truth, which is quite rare on this particular subject with Ginny.

Suddenly, my focus is elsewhere, because I hear that distant clacking, the one I've been both anxious and scared to hear, lately. I redirect my gaze from my (hot and) heated friend to over her shoulder to find exactly what I was looking for: a blonde girl grinning mischievously at me. With the sight, scenes which have been haunting me for weeks now flood my mind: the same blonde girl kissing my neck from behind and whispering in my ear; she straddling me in a library chair, kissing me hungrily; I sitting on her lap, blouse already open and her hands roaming way up my thighs; that last oneʼs effect was particularly intense, making me shut my eyes forcefully in a desperate attempt to make it go away.

"Are you even listening?" Now I am, me and the entire, now awkwardly silent, save for gossip murmurs, Great Hall. Iʼm sure Iʼm very wide-eyed and very aware of my once forgotten argument – that is just great, a truly excellent choice of moment to space out, Hermione! Ginnyʼs redder than her hair (not a tad bit unattractive, though) and sheʼs standing right in front of me (I wonder when or how she got there), with each of her arms by my sides, effectively preventing me from running away and her face mere inches of mine. Sheʼs so absorbed in her anger that she doesnʼt notice how... sexual this situation might look like for a spectator – but then again, it might be my wishful thinking distorting it a bit (her loud breaths arenʼt helping my attempt to correct my mental picture, though).

"Yes, Iʼm listening" I manage to utter in a quiet voice. I know, I know, Gryffindors are supposed to be courageous and loyal and I guess that implies telling the truth too, but I simply canʼt, okay? I mean, sheʼd react horribly and, to be honest, who wouldnʼt when the truth sounds like ʻno, I wasn't, actually, I was looking at the blonde bombshell that just came in and having an overflow of sexual thoughts about herʼ – if she wasnʼt prejudiced to the bone, sheʼd hardly accept this, but letʼs not forget that she is, which is why weʼre having this situation right now (trust me, she'll hint it eventually). So this is like, the bad idea of the century.

"I just want you to be happy, Gin", thatʼs entirely true, except I swallowed that little ʻwith meʼ that should follow.

"Donʼt you ʻGinʼ me, Hermione Jane Granger!", she leans closer, so close she had to put her knee on the bench in order not to fall – of course, she puts it right between my thighs. Good Merlin, Iʼm going to have a heart attack.

"You know those suggestions of yours arenʼt about that", I can feel her hot breath as she speaks between her teeth. See? I told you that was the real reason.

"What are you talking about?", I frown a bit, on purpose, to make it convincing. She scoffs and eyes me dangerously, which makes me feel like a prey. The moment extends enough to make me very aware of our surroundings – the murmurs were now louder, with eventual giggles, and my mind dreaded the rumours that were to come. The situation wasnʼt very forgiving, either, when you think about it: sheʼs fighting me about a conversation when I hinted she was a lesbian; however, she is doing that almost on top of me, knee between my thighs, heavy breath on my lips and narrowed eyes deeply into mine – it would be comical, if it werenʼt with me or, at least, if I didnʼt have that enormous crush on the girl.

"Er... Ginny, I think it would be best to discuss this elsewhere", I lean backwards, proximity already making me beyond nervous – the action seems to turn the gears in her head: her blue eyes widen in shock and she pushes back so suddenly she almost falls. For a few moments, I also recognize a look of desperation, as if she was struggling not to run away, but it was quickly replaced by what I assume to be fake cover-up anger.

"That won't be necessary, Hermione", she says harshly and it breaks my heart, "We're done", and stomps out of the room proudly. I strongly hope this to be one of the redheadʼs many tantrums – Ginnyʼs knows to be fiery for no other reason: when sheʼs nervous, she says cruel words, words that could make the proudest cry, but the next day, sheʼll just apologize crying a river, saying sheʼd never meant any and that you mean the world to her – after all this time, it still works marvelously on me, and I believe it always will.

So I keep my hopes up and my eyes trail on her back, down to her skirt. I secretly wish it to shorten a tad, so I could see more of those muscular thighs – Iʼd gladly support the change if asked, though it would also result in the reduction of my own uniform. She gets out of sight and Iʼm a bit sad about the fight, but Luna snap me out of my thoughts by giggling a bit.

"Hermione, you are very discreet", I blush.

"Sheʼs not looking"

"Sheʼs the only one, though", My gaze wanders briefly through the room. Damn, sheʼs right. "But I suppose sheʼs the only one who doesnʼt know about it, either"

"About what?", she eyes my knowingly and hints a smirk, "Oh, that... I donʼt know about that, Luna, people arenʼt that interested"

"You wouldnʼt say that if you werenʼt that caught up in your argument to listen to the comments about it. I think loverʼs tiff was the nicest I heard. It isn't their fault, though, it did seem she just broke up with you", Luna grins a bit at the last part.

"Do you think she suspects?"

"I wouldnʼt worry about that, ʻMione", and she smiles adorably, "Hurry up, we have to go to class"

"You still havenʼt answered my question!"

"I think she doesnʼt want to", and she disappears into the crowd, leaving me with a flood of confusion.


	2. Samantha Lestrange

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finally I think this chapter's good to go (I reread it many times). All the warnings and the disclaimer is still valid for this one. Have fun!

The day dragged itself, but now itʼs dinner time and Iʼm at the library, writing one of my numerous essays. My NEWT classes are getting tougher by the minute, so Iʼve been here almost daily, sometimes even staying up late to finish it all on time. I know I shouldnʼt, I even blacked out of tiredness a few times – I feel the pressure of the exam coming and I canʼt help but be nervous. I try hard to concentrate on my parchment, but my starving condition starts to get to me. Okay, so I havenʼt been entirely honest: Iʼm here skipping dinner because I canʼt afford to meet a certain redhead and find out if that ending was really an exaggeration or if she meant it – and I surely donʼt want to be in my shoes if it is the latter.

Besides, knowing Ginny, sheʼd surely use dinner to flirt shamelessly with some guy, whom she would snog later in an empty classroom and carry in toll for the rest of the week – if just the thought of it makes my heart ache terribly, imagine what the sight can do. Of course, sheʼd get tired in a few days and then thereʼd be another of those kiss-and-tell moments we were going through earlier. No, sorry, I'm wrong: due to our argument at lunch, she'd probably skip the last part and pretend all is fine with Mr. New-boy-toy – Ginnyʼs stubborn and, believe me, when I call someone that, itʼs because it had reached a pathological level.

Thereʼs that clacking again, the one which deepened the mess I put myself into earlier. It belongs to the only girl who can rival Ginevra Weasley for dominance of my thoughts and, itʼs worth remembering, not only mine, but every single boy (and possibly lesbian, if there's anyone else) in this school, a fact that drives Ginny nuts. Ladies and gentleman, meet Slytherinʼs poster girl and Ginnyʼs arch enemy: Samantha Lestrange.

Really, the thing about Samantha, it isnʼt her gorgeous blonde curls that fall slightly below her shoulders, the way her make up is flawless in her already flawless face or that skirt hanging inches above the school limits, much to McGonagallʼs frustration; it also isnʼt those killer legs that look even more attractive because of her heels or those full, pink lips that carry a permanent smirk; the thing about Samantha Lestrange is those olive greenish hazel eyes that sparkle danger and yet you canʼt tear yourself always from them. When she notices – believe me, she always does –, it makes her smirk more arrogantly; you hate yourself for it, but you canʼt help it, you feel so bloody hot. Sweet Merlin, she's coming this way...

Of all the bloody tables on this huge library, of course Samantha would choose the secluded one next to mine, that makes so much sense, doesn't it? Now besides being hungry and stressing over my earlier scene with Ginny I had to avoid the (huge) temptation of catching a glimpse of the unbearably hot woman just a few feet from me. As if it wasn't enough, Samantha apparently likes to loosen her clothing in the library, so her cloak is messily folded into a nearby chair and her tie is hanging around her neck, undone. Despite all the informality with clothes, she still holds that elegant, almost cocky posture and has her legs crossed under the table. Oh, her legs... the skirt is even higher and it leaves little to imagination.

I snap out of it to a throat clearing, hers, to be more precise. Oh, Merlin, was I staring? I feel myself deeply flustered and glance at her direction discreetly for some sort of confirmation. I can see her pleased smirk as she continues to read her book and, as I foreseen, I hate myself for giving her the satisfaction (it turns out I have quite a talent for divinations, isn't it?), so I try to muster some focus to my fascinating reading on Goblin Wars.

It was working, my attempt at focusing, I swear it was! But then, she had to recross her legs, making that distinct clack on the library's floor, and I had to look at her, even if it was of out the corner of my eyes. To my surprise, she's eyeing me back, still smirking – actually, she's not eyeing, she's scanning slowly my whole figure, which makes me cold sweat. She ends biting her lip and then smirks dangerously.

"Am I bothering you, Granger?", yes.

"No"

"It doesn't look like it", she purred, her eyes on mine.

"If you think know the answer, why did you ask then?", I narrow my eyes in annoyance. She slowly stands up, walks in my direction and grabs me gently by the tie, the movement so unexpected I couldn't react at all to it.

"Because I'd love hearing you admit it", she whispered and my anger is suddenly back.

"You're so full of yourself it sickens me", she chuckles at that.

"I noticed that, you seem to have gotten a fever", then she reaches to my forehead to 'check my temperature', making me wince. She smirks again (really, I'm beginning to think it's redundant for me to say it, since it's Samantha) and, after noticing how close she is from me, I tense up and scowl.

"Let me tell you a secret, then:", she whispers into my ear, making me shiver noticeably, "that's exactly what I wanted", and she pulls me, by the tie, into a kiss.

Once again, I can't react, I can barely think – the smell of her perfume, the tasty of her lip gloss and her hand entwined in my hair, all of it just make me desperately want to kiss her more.

I don't know how much time passed since she first kissed me, or how she got me pressed against a bookshelf, but I feel my desire running wild, so I don't show any objection when she has her hand under my shirt, I just use my last drop of consciousness to get my wand in my pocket.

"Muffliato"

"Well, aren't you the smartest witch?", Samantha grins and I grin right back before pulling her into another kiss.

She finishes unbuttoning my shirt, pulls back, eyes fixated on mine, and lick her lips.

"Who would know Hogwarts' bookworm is a hottie under her uniform", she purrs then proceeds to kiss my neck. I bite my lip to prevent a moan from escaping.

"Stop it", I utter hoarsely. Samantha raises her head instantly and looks at me apprehensively, "My turn", and, before she has time to react, I push her against the bookshelf, where I had been previously, and flash a malicious grin.

"Bossy, aren't we?", she smirks. I just kiss her again (I can't get enough of it, apparently), roaming my hands over her goddess-like body.

It didn't take much time for me to get her shirt and bra open, finally allowing me to do all sorts of things with those beautiful breasts, things I've dreamed about doing several times. Her moans grew louder and I just can't resist the temptation of sneaking a hand under her skirt – her panties are so wet that I take it as an invitation to slip my fingers inside her.

"That's not fair", she says, between moans.

"I'm afraid I don't care about what's fair now"

"You should. After all, I'm having all the fun", she rests her head on the shelf and closes her eyes, moaning louder.

I come closer to her ear and use my best husky tone, "I'm not worried, you seem longing to give me my turn", she opens her eyes slightly and smirks weakly.

"You have no idea"

Hours must have passed now, she and I had took quite a few turns, we're both exhausted and poorly clothed, lying on a table. I have to say: I never imagined my first time like this, but I can define it as amazing, for sure.

I wake up in shock, panting. I'm in the library, my head is resting against an open History book and I still have my uniform on. Oh, no, I must have fallen asleep while studying again! Not only that, I remember dreaming about having sex with Samantha, again, for the hundredth time. Some scenes of it flood my mind and I blush a bit – that one was way hotter than the others. Well, looks like this crush getting to me more and more. I have no choice but forget it, though: hitting on Samantha is not a possibility, not even close to. Samantha is a stuck-up straight Slytherin who would never ever go for me, that would only make me the joke of the school. However, I have to admit: she is one hot stuck up straight Slytherin.

The clock just hit seven, – I should go – so I get up, gather my things, feeling my head a bit and make my way down to breakfast.

I smile and wave to Luna, who gestures for me to join her at the Ravenclaw table. I'm glad she does, because I'm not on speaking terms with Ginny. Speak of the devil, she just came in with her newest conquest, a handsome long-haired Hufflepuff. She smiles to Luna, but avoid my gaze and walks right past us. Ouch.

"Hermione, you look terrible", she sounds concerned.

"Yeah, the fight with Ginny really got me worked up", that's truth, but only one half of it.

"So you were awake all night?"

"Something like that", I can tell she doesn't believe me, but she smiles and I decide to leave it that way.

Luna looks elsewhere and I follow her gaze. Surprisingly it falls right on Samantha, who eyes me for a bit and continues talking to Zabini in a very flirtatious way, which makes me a tad nauseous. Turns out the two women I'm interested are (or at least, think they are) straight, that is just perfect, isn't it?

Flashes of last night's dream keep popping in my head too, to my utter annoyance, so I'm kind of glad that Luna cleared her throat and snapped me out of it.

"She's beautiful, Samantha", oh, no, magic invisible creatures told her that too?

"Why, you, Luna, of all people!", I smile playfully, which is warmly returned.

"I think I can count on one hand the people who do not have at least a tiny thing for her", see? I'm not making it all up!

"No, really, do you?"

"A tiny bit, yes, but I'm afraid she's not my type"

"What's your type, then? And wait, you're into girls! You never told me that!"

"I'm not into girls, not like you, I just don't rule out possibilities. And you didn't tell me either!"

"But I'm way too obvious", she laughs, making me smile.

"I have to agree on that. What about you, do you have a thing for Samantha?"

"Yeah", I sigh, "I rather big crush, actually", one I shouldn't have. I sigh.

"You do like difficult girls, Hermione"

"No I don't! I like hot girls, the difficult part is not my fault", I laugh and she chuckles, "you still haven't answered me about your type, you're leaving me more curious than I already am"

"I'd go for you, if I had to choose a girl here", what? Now I'm uncomfortable, "but don't worry, I'm not hitting on you or something, I like", she smiles dreamily, "someone else and I know you do, too", I sigh in relief – don't get me wrong, Luna's very pretty and fun, but I'm already caught up in a real big mess with those two.

"Why me? There are plenty of pretty girls in this school", that's the only question in my mind.

"I think you're pretty, much prettier than you think you are and you're fun to be around", she smiles genuinely and I blush at the compliments.

"Thanks, I guess"

"You should really patch things up with Ginny, I can tell she's missing you"

"How?", please let it not be Nargles!

"She'd looked at us a hundred times since she sat in the Hufflepuff table with that boy. Oh, sorry, hundred and one", that makes me giggle and I feel a bit happier.

"I don't know about that, Luna, my relationship with Ginny became very complicated when I developed that crush, maybe it's better this way", I don't believe myself for a second, neither does Luna, "well, let's see how things turn out, shall we?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It would be lovely to hear your thoughts about this chapter. I'm a bit unsure about the sex scene, in particular – never really liked writing those, but this story simply needed it, so I made a significant effort.


	3. Hot and Cold, Red and Gold

One week passed since the scene on the Great Hall and I'm truly starting to believe my Inner Eye (as Trelawney would put it). Ginny's fed up of the Hufflepuff hunk, noticeably, but she told everyone the opposite and has been keeping him around – obviously to prove me wrong. Well, it's not working, I'm not convinced in the slightest.

Luna was very right too: she misses me clearly, she keeps looking at me when she thinks I'm not paying attention. It's sort of funny, actually, she thinks she's so utterly discreet – you should see her whispering, I think the entire Great Hall can hear us! Good thing I always cast a nice silent Muffliato around us before I share something important.

Oh, and lots of rumours about me and Ginny appeared, all sorts of rumours: I in love with Ginny but she liking guys (that's not exactly a rumour); she in love with me but I liking Luna (I imagine her face hearing that one); our recent breakup because I cheated on her, with Luna (I think Luna started that one with our dialogue); I liking the Ravenclaw boy and fighting with her over him (I seriously heard that!) – it's impressive what people can create out of their boredom.

Right now, I'm in the common room, waiting for Ginny – yes, you read that right. I'm going to apologize, though I don't think I did something wrong. It's just that I miss her, she misses me and she is way more stubborn than me, as I told you before, so she won't do it – only if her life depended on it, then she might do it.

I know Luna was there and proved to be a really nice friend, but my week was terribly empty without Ginny and all her outbursts, her heart-melting smiles and her unconscious lesbianism giving me delightful false hope. You see, that fight wasn't the first time she did it, only the first time in public – Ginny does things like it pretty much all the time when we're alone. For example: when I'm at the Burrow, I always, and I do mean always, wake up with her cuddled with me; or when she wants to kiss me on the cheek, she does it dangerously close to my lips; or when she finds me reading, she throws her arms around me from behind and kisses my neck lightly, whispering "hey" right into my ear just right after doing so. No wonder I'm crazy about her now!

However, lately it wasn't only her I'm nuts about: Samantha's filling my thoughts equally often, with that foxy attitude and intense gaze of hers – sometimes it seems she does it on purpose, just to tease me. Take Last Potions class, for instance: she took a seat right next to Malfoy, who proudly smiled as if she was his new conquest. They begun chatting and she flirted a bit with him but when he turned to Zabini, her gaze fell quickly on me. This time, I just held it, remaining as expressionless as I could. The flashes of this week's dreams were back very vividly, in particular her lying on top of me, on a library table, barely clothed, kissing me fiercely – that made me blush uncontrollably.

"Miss Granger", my eyes darted to Snape's figure as I tried as hardly as I could to erase the memory. Of the corner of my eye, I saw Samantha doing what she does best (that is smirking), as if she had gotten exactly what she wanted.

"Yes, professor"

"What color should Amortentia have when you add mother-of-pearl sheen before spiralling steam?"

"That's the correct order, so I guess purple, as it should", I'm confused, since the entire lecture had been on Felix Felicis

"And what potion is this lecture about?", you are so low, Snape.

"Felix Felicis", he groaned and continued his class.

I looked over to Samantha again, she was still eyeing me discreetly and this time, she bit her lip – Merlin, that girl's good in making me hot. However, my doubt persists: did she smirk about me getting caught by Snape or about me all flustered when looking at her? I have a rather strong feeling it's the latter.

"Ginny, wait up!", she stops in her tracks.

"What, Hermione?", she tries to sound annoyed, failing miserably – I can hear she's a little happy about it.

"I want to have a word with you, I promise to make it quick", I'm nervous.

"Shoot it"

"In private?", she signals me to follow her. As I do so, I can hear the whispers in the common room – new rumours on the making, great!

She sits on her bed, "So?"

"I want to apologize"

"Is that all?", are you fucking kidding me?

"Yes", I'm a tad angry now, she's being a bitch, "what else do you want me to do? I miss you, Gin, you and your goddamn insufferable temper"

"What else? For starters, you can come here and give me a hug", she smiles genuinely, a smile I haven't seem in a week. I throw myself at her arms, literally, which causes her to lose balance and fall back into her bed, but she doesn't seem to mind and is hugging me tightly. I, on the other hand, am quite uncomfortable at being on top of her, especially because the situation demands a good kiss and I can't bring myself to do it.

"I missed you so much, Hermione", she whispers hoarsely, right into my ear. See? I told you! Ginny has the gift to turn any slightly lesbian-ish situation into a very awkward lesbian-ish situation. Of course, the hug's way longer than I expected, but I eventually pull away (a tad urgently) and sit besides her.

"So, how was your week?"

"Tedious. I went out a few times with a Hufflepuff, now he thinks he's my boyfriend, so he's all jealous of that Ravenclaw I went out last week... I don't even like him that much", really? I'm surprised. No, I'm not, and that's why I'm really laughing.

"What's his name?", I couldn't care less, but I do it for the sake of the conversation.

"I think it's John, no, Johann, that's it", I laugh at her confusion and she glares playfully at me.

"He's very handsome", again, not that I care.

"Yes, he is, but I'm way prettier, so he's the lucky one", she grins cockily and looks at me, almost asking for the confirmation.

"Well, I'm not into girls", I swear I'm holding back my laughter, "but if I were, I'd totally choose you over him, anytime actually", I smile and wink. She sits up and kiss me on the cheek, brushing a bit on my lips. That went further than I expected, even from Ginny.

"Oh, Merlin, I'm sorry, 'Mione", she blushes deeply and I just laugh, throwing my head back a little to hide my own flustered cheeks.

"That's ok", I smile at her, "it was kind of funny, though, you're all flushed"

"Remind me again why I missed you?", she deadpans, then sticks her tongue out. I just keep on smiling, glad my world's at peace once again.

"Ginny!", she quickens her pace. Oh, Merlin, what did I do this time? Ginny's been avoiding me for almost two weeks, already. Seriously, we didn't even fight, she just runs away every goddamn time she sees me!

"Ginny, wait up!", oh, great, now she's running! "Ginny, please!"

I follow her to the Astronomy tower, which I know it's a dead end, but thankfully, she appears to not know. Realizing she was cornered, she turns around to face me, wand in hand, deep scowl on her pretty face.

"What the hell do you want, Hermione?"

"I want to know what the bloody hell happened to you! You're on guard, for Merlin's sake!", I point to her wand.

"Just get away from me", she spits, eyes narrowed.

"Why? I thought we were friends again! I apologized for that day already, didn't I?"

"Friends don't lie blatantly to their friends", she narrows her eyes.

"What?"

"Really, Hermione, 'if you were into girls', you almost got me fooled, didn't you?", I'm paler than pale, now, and my usual proficient articulation's entirely gone.

"All I wanted was to see if you blacked out again in the library, I was so fucking worried when you told me about it", she contorted her face in disgust, "of all people, Hermione, you were the last one I expected to disappoint me so deeply", she looks at me, pain and rage very explicit in her eyes, "You, shagging that Slytherin whore, really?"

"Wait, what?"

"You know exactly what you did, don't act all innocent, I'm not buying it", she yells.

I'm in complete shock, I don't think I was able to blink the last few minutes, I just fixed my gaze on a brick in the wall and let my eyes go out of focus – I need to absorb this information. After quite a long time, I look at Ginny again, only to notice she's gone.

Let me get this straight: Ginny saw me "shagging" Samantha at the library... what the hell! I never ever "shagged" anyone, let alone Samantha, I never even talked to her! That's just crazy! I know I'm having those dreams about her, but that's it, it never went further.

My internal ranting was so distracting my feet took control completely of my path and I end up at the library (which makes me agree a bit more with Ron when he said my life philosophy was "when in doubt, go to the library"). I take my usual seat and try to fit the pieces of the story together, only coming to the conclusion Ginny's gone crazy.

Samantha joins me at my secluded spot, bothering the hell out of me with her presence, as usual. I'm not in the mood for her mind games today, though, I'm way too entertained trying to discover how my friend developed such hallucinations.

"You seem distracted, Granger", Samantha eyes me curiously, smirking a bit (always).

"Excuse me?", it sounded rude, I know, but I can't help it, I barely talk to her and she makes a comment on how distracted I am? That's just plain weird. She walks up to me and bends down until our eyes are leveled.

"I said you seem distracted", she said it syllabically this time, her breath touching my lips and sending shivers all over, "you're usually more attentive. Is there something on your mind?"

"Why would you want to know?", I narrow my eyes.

"Well, I like your usual attention", she reaches for my cheek and kisses me. At first, it relaxes me a bit, then something clicked on my mind and I pull away abruptly, grabbing my wand in the process.

"So it's true!", for the first time, she looks insecure; terrified, to be more accurate.

I walk backwards slowly, wand ready, until I have some shelter from any possible attacks, then I dash out of the library, heading to the common room. The dreams weren't dreams! They were real flashes of memory! I arrive at my room out of breath, get myself my quill, a piece of parchment and write:

Dear Hermione,

In case you don't remember, Samantha set up a scheme to use you to have sex (how improbable is that, isn't it? Well, it's true), don't go to the library, she usually tricks you there. Because of that, Ginny discovered you're a lesbian and she isn't talking to you anymore. Don't fall on her tricks again!

Sincerely, your past self,

Hermione

I reread my own note, in a desperate attempt to make the situation more real – I even laugh a bit at my own sarcasm, though I know it isn't funny. It's just... all messed up, in a way that I never imagined it become. Probably that'll be the last I'll hear from Ginny. Stubborn as she is, she'll never review her prejudices for me. A lonely tear falls on my lap as our week between fights replays in my head: she'd been more than lovely, then – I reckon that's because she missed me a lot.

If I only wasn't that bloody stupid to fall on Samantha's tricks, none of this would be happening! Ginny was right all along about her, and about her lack of trust in Slytherins, in general. Really, using a person to get sex! That's nasty, wicked... I can't even find the right word to describe it! I feel repulsive of myself for letting it happen, if I only paid a bit more attention!

If I only paid a bit more attention... I look at the picture of me and Ginny on the nightstand – she's got that smile, the same one she gave me when we made up; that smile I know by heart and stills makes me melt; that smile I won't ever see again... I grab the portrait and lay in my bed, thinking about all those good memories, with my heart aching too much to actually be able to cry over it. Every smile, every laughter, every fight, all raced through my head endlessly – even the false hopes and my daily jealousy. I desperately wanted it back, back to the times when the world was... perfect.

Curse you, Samantha! Curse you for ripping it all shamelessly, with that arrogant smirk plastered on your face! I'll Crucio you until you revert it all! But then I realize it: even if I do that, it won't ever bring everything back; it won't make Ginny my friend again – nothing will. I finally burst into tears and am not able to think coherently. Scenes of me and Ginny just take over my mind as I sob uncontrollably and I can't think of much else, except how I'd give pretty much anything to have it back.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm terribly sorry for the delay, I know I said Friday night and it's way past midnight, but I couldn't seem to get the last scene right – drama's way harder than sex scenes, good Merlin! Anyway, I hope it wasn't over the top, I put a LOT of effort on it. Let me know what you think of it (and of the rest of the chapter too)!


	4. A Remarkable Case of Double Personality

I awake with a hell of a headache, hugging a picture frame tightly. As consciousness settles, all the events from yesterday make way through my mind, finally stopping when I get to the situation with Samantha. It didn't sink in yet, that she set me up. Really, I just can't take this off my head, it's so bloody disturbing!

How could she fool me so easily? I mean, she's probably good in potions, so making Amortentia would be fairly simple, but not calculating its exact duration to make it last only the night – that would be near impossible. Of course, there is quite some potions to cause infatuation, but I would remember drinking something, wouldn't I? Or at least, I'd remember more then some scenes, right? Unless she used... a memory charm! That's it, she used Obliviate, rather poorly, I have to admit – she wasn't even able to erase the entire memory...

Unbelievable! How could I have not noticed? The black outs, the images, her presence in the library, it was all there, right under my nose! And she was so obvious, always looking at me and with that smirk! Oh Merlin, how could I be so fucking stupid?

My internal rant is stopped by Ginny entering the Common Room, but not even the sight of her beautiful figure cheers me up, mainly because she hates me now, after seeing me with Samantha. Me and Samantha – no matter how many times I say it, it still sounds awkward. Think about it: Samantha is the conceited hot straight girl, I'm the know-it-all bookworm, as they say. Guess what? It doesn't match! It doesn't even make sense! She's straight, she's popular, she's a Slytherin! Well, obviously she's not straight, but I thought she was all along.

Anyway, let's assume she's a lesbian, then, since the situation shows us that's the way to go. Then why me? I bet Samantha could get all the girls she wants – especially using love potions. For instance, she could have picked Ginny! Ginny's beautiful, smart and smoking hot, it would be more reasonable, right? Not that I want it to happen, of course, I just don't see a motive for me to be the best candidate – I sigh.

In an attempt to free myself from my very frustrating search for logic in Samantha's actions, I glance at Ginny again, she's flirting with Dean Thomas, with a big, bright smile on her face that makes me light up a bit, even though its not directed to me – she seemed so gloomy this week, it's nice to see her better. She tucks a strand of hair behind her ear and tilts her head a bit, just because she knows she can get away with anything doing that. I miss her, I miss her a lot... goddamn you, Samantha! I'll hex the hell out of you in dinner, you'll see!

My fit of rage doesn't last very long when I look at Ginny again, that smile makes me melt. I can't resist, so I look into her eyes, they sparkle... wait, there's something wrong with her eyes. I frown a bit and almost instantly, she purses her lips. I scan her figure – everything seems in place, so why do I have this feeling? Dean says something and she starts laughing. I can tell she's forcing her laughter and she's nervous. She glances at me and scowls, then quickly excuses herself, heading to the stairs that leads to her dormitory.

The first step she took confirmed my suspicions: my best friend would usually land her foot flat on the step, but she didn't do it, she stepped just with the tip of her converses (a gift from me, of course), as if she was using high heels.

I'm following her into the sixth year dormitory now – and by her, I mean Samantha, of course, who's disguised as Ginny and a surprisingly good actress, since she fooled everyone, except for me. I'm truly sorry, Samantha, but you only get to fool me once.

I open the door, wand in hand, "Where's Ginny?"

"Well, 'Mione", she chuckles while using my nickname, which made my scowl more, "you really are the smartest witch in school", she smirks – I'm used to that, but I confess her shape as Ginny gives Samantha's trademark smirk a different twist, though not less hot in the slightest.

"If you really want to know, you should drop your wand", she states calmly, but on guard still. I purse my lips in response.

"Alright", with an even bigger smirk. She walks towards me, wand pointed at me at all times, and undo Ginny's tie, tossing it into her bed

"So, 'Mione" she starts unbuttoning the shirt, "here's the deal: ", one more button, "you forget about everything – I can make you, you're probably aware of my capabilities of doing so –", one more button opens, "and we'll leave things as they were", she pushes another button, revealing her black lacy bra and leaving me quite dizzy. I know it's Samantha, but the figure stripping right before me is still Ginny's and I dreamt of this scene long enough not to be affected by it.

"Your capabilities?", my turn to chuckle, "Samantha, you should check your real abilities before becoming this conceited"

"And why is that?"

"I have never seen a memory spell leave flashes of the memory like that, not even from first years", I smirk, just because I can't resist it.

"It's quite simple to do, actually, 'Mione", she looks deeply into my eyes and I can't help but feel hot, "you just need to erase only parts of the memory. Performed correctly, it can make the target mistake it for a dream. Pretty neat, don't you think?"

My smirk fades and I can't think coherently, I just feel the anger rising. Before I manage an answer, she continues, "I thought it'd be fun to see you all hot and bothered whenever you faced me – I was right"

"You bitch!", I let out, "What's the fucking matter with you? Were you so bored that you decided to ruin my life, was that it? To ruin everything between me and my best friend? Couldn't you find someone else to fuck instead of forcing innocent people into being your little sex toy?"

"Forcing?", she interrupts, "That's a strong word, 'Mione. If I was really forcing you, you wouldn't have been able to flee yesterday, but that's exactly what you did", I pause a bit, still panting, to think of an answer, but it only allows her to go on, "I confess using a potion to intensify your... hots for me, though. A few drops in my lips, actually, which you probably mistook for lip gloss and only lasted a few minutes", she smirks and I narrow my eyes.

"My question still holds, Granger: do you want to forget it?", I don't answer right away, I just use my wand-free hand to open the door abruptly

"Out! Now!", she walks calmly towards it and in a blink, she pushes me to the wall, closes the door with the other hand and kisses me. As soon as I realize what's happening, I pull away aggressively but I'm too late, because she has her wand in hand and she's casting a spell on me silently. Before I can reach my wand, I'm flooded with scenes, heated scenes of me and her in the library, I even feel a bit lightheaded from it.

"Here, so you remember it as well as I do. I have to say I'm gonna miss it – I had plenty of girls and I admit none comes close to you", I'm in shock, right now.

"And don't worry about your redheaded eye-candy, she already forgot what she saw, and your fight about it. She did have a tight grasp on the memory, the spell was a tad difficult to perform, so I reckon she'd enjoyed it way more than she'd admit".

Suddenly, she's kissing me all over again, but I can't bring myself to react, I just kiss her back – like that, she's gone and I'm completely dumbfound.

"I gotta go, I'm sorry, gonna finish that Transfiguration essay"

"No, stay! You can do it later, 'Mione, please", Ginny pleads very charmingly and I'm almost giving in.

"I'm sorry, Gin, I catch with you later", and I rush out the Great Hall, then take a wrong turn on my path to the library, because I'm not going there, not now, at least – I'm going to the Slytherin dungeon.

As you see, me and Ginny are fine. Actually, fine is a major understatement: she's been subtly hitting on me all day and has shown a radical change of point of view. For example, when Ginny and I went to get her broom and ran into two Hufflepuff girls in a heated make out session, she just grinned and said "carry on, don't mind me", then glanced at me, which obviously made blush; on practice, I overheard she talking to Alicia Spinnet, who was complimenting her on her flying. She smiled and replied she did quite an effort to impress me, making Alicia giggle; during dinner, when a Hufflepuff asked us if we were really a couple, she answered "no, but we'd make the hottest couple on school" and, to make things a bit worse, she grabbed my hand and gave it a reassuring squeeze.

So, after two minutes of thinking, I came to the infuriating conclusion that Samantha messed with Ginny's head, not only erased the memories she caused. That drove me into a fit of rage – she could mess with me, I could bear that, but messing with my Ginny was taking it too far! I'm too overprotective of Ginny to allow Samantha to do what she pleases.

That's why I'm here, shoulder against the cold dungeon wall, waiting for my least favourite blonde. And there she is, surrounded by a group of Slytherin girls, which includes my second least favourite girl, Pansy Parkinson.

"Granger, what a surprise...",

"Shut it, Parkinson, I'm not here to deal with you", I put my want below her chin and her usual smirk faltered. Really, what is with Slytherins and smirking? I look over to Samantha, who's standing right in front of me, a serious scowl on my face.

"Lestrange, we have to talk", she nods, but with a frown of her own, "come", she follows right behind me to the Potions classroom, the nearest room to the Slytherin common room. She closes the door behind her and grabs her wand.

"Muffliato", she says very elegantly, flicking her wand with impressive technique.

"What did you do to Ginny?"

"Didn't you like it? It's a gift for you", she grins mischievously.

"Right, now answer my question"

"Calm down, Granger, it was just a couple of memory spells", smirk.

"I don't think you understood me, Lestrange, so let me enlighten you: I want to know exactly what you did"

"Alright", she looked at me impatiently, "I erased all bits that remembered me with you"

"Yes, I reckon, what else?"

"I forged a conclusion she was already very close to, but couldn't really admit. I think you know what I'm talking about. She shared an accidental kiss a few weeks ago with you, that triggered almost all of it"

"Why?"

"Curious, aren't we, Granger?"

"Answer the bloody question, Lestrange", I almost growl.

She approaches me slowly, eyes locked on mine.

"I have to admit you are terribly sexy being so bossy", she says in her usual purr and it shakes me a bit, "however, I'm afraid I grew tired of you, so I want you away from me – and what better way than giving you the girl you want?", I wasn't expecting the sting I feel from hearing she "break up" with me and it only makes me angrier.

"As if I wanted you. Lestrange, I'd choose Ginny over you anytime. Actually, not only Ginny, quite a sizable group of girls", the last part is a lie. I can't help it, though, I'm way too enraged.

"Perfect. Have fun with your redhead and leave me alone, then", with that, she left without looking back.

I sit down and sigh, reflecting on my recent conversation. I'm surprisingly sad from it, which leaves me even more furious: did I grew slightly fond of the girl who tricked me? Really? I'm bloody pathetic! I bring my hands to my face in defeat. I must be insane... or a masochist.

I lay back on the chair and look at the ceiling as both confrontations with Samantha replay on and on in my head. "I have to say I'm gonna miss it", I scoff to the echo of the phrase – of course you are, Samantha. I let out a bitter chuckle. Then it occurs me: she didn't actually use this to fool me, or to get something, just to distract me to recover my memory. Wait... it doesn't make any sense! She could have used the opportunity to erase all my memories if she wanted me to leave her alone, it would work much better. Why on earth would she want me to remember? I sigh in frustration – bloody double personality.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm a terrible person to leave all of you on that moment. The truth is: I had it all figured out, until the last scene of the last chapter, that came out much stronger than I first imagined. After I posted it, my beta came running to tell me it wouldn't fit on what I previously thought, that my point of view of Samantha was very different from what I was showing. I complained a lot from it, majorly stating that I needed to keep Samantha in character, so the story went through a major turn and I got very focused in tailoring Samantha's character deeper – changes will be more evident in the next chapter.
> 
> Anyway, I hope you liked this one, I'm particularly fond of it – it features my favourite scene in the story until now, the common room one. Let me know what you think, please, that's very important for me!


	5. Fresh Starts

I'm at the library again, with a fairly big pile of books, writing furiously. I'm so distracted by my feet long Arithmancy essay that I don't notice when that blonde girl sat in the nearby table. Then I notice this seems to be the same girl who's been invading my private here, a place people usually don't know about, because they didn't bother to explore the library like me, for two weeks, so I glance at the figure again.

The dim lighting doesn't let me draw lots of conclusions, only that: the girl's a fair-skinned blonde, with curly hair shoulder length; her posture is impeccable; her skirt's shorter than usual; she's got beautiful thighs. Okay, let's see: a smart person that seems pretty and is a blonde... maybe Luna? No, of course not, Luna would've talked to me and this girl has no intention of doing so, despite our constant encounters here. I wish I could see her house crest, it would make things much easier.

Hermione, focus! Screw the girl! She's not even disturbing you, for Merlin's sake! So, where were we, Arithmancy essay?

There's a quiet 'thud' and I don't resist peaking. The girl just opened a rather big tome and she lowers her wand to the page to start reading it. The action illuminates the insignia of the house: Slytherin. Blonde Slytherin girl? Daphne Greengrass – but she doesn't have curls! Parkinson's a brunette... wait! Lestrange, Samantha Lestrange! Who would guess the girl's a high-grade bookworm, I always thought her to be the stereotypical empty popular girl. Anyway, mystery solved, let's finish this bloody essay and get some sleep.

Almost there, just have to review it...

"Excuse me", Lestrange says it quietly and I notice she's standing beside me – Merlin, the girl's prettier than pretty, "I ran out of ink, could I get some of yours?"

"Of course, you can take the spare one", I smile weakly. Somehow I'm impressed

to be treated like a person by a Slytherin.

"Thanks", she turns to leave and my eyes are instinctively on the back of her thighs, her heels clack against the wood and the sway of her hips leaves me momentarily hypnotized – suddenly, the library got terribly hot and consequently, I can't concentrate anymore.

What else do I know about Lestrange? Think, think, think... oh! That's the girl Ginny despites, who slept with the male half of the Slytherin house! I take another discreet glance –strange, she doesn't seem like a whore; I mean, she does wear her skirt shorter than allowed and sport those high heels, but I can't picture it from the girl who's been quite a while in here with me and's reading that huge book.

I run through my mental database once more, frustrated about the lack of information I have on this particular girl. Well, let's leave it, shall we? The essay won't review itself, after all.

Perfect. I rewrote it and surely it'll manage to impress Professor Vector! I begin to gather my things to leave, feeling a little awkward about asking Lestrange for the ink I borrowed her – she won't get the work done if she hasn't got ink. I take a little longer than necessary to pile the books, mostly to give her the time to say something about it. When she doesn't, I just decide to leave it with her and I stand up.

"Oh, you're leaving?"

"Yes, sort of"

"That's a shame, library late at night gets a tad creepy and kind of lonely", if she wasn't noticeably straight, I'd take that as a flirt, it sure sounded like one.

"I understand", and I smile to sound less evasive.

"Thanks for the ink", she stands up to handle me it, stopping at arm length. I finally am close enough to see her face clearly and, well, oh Merlin. Remember when I said she was prettier than pretty? Cross that, that's a gross understatement – she's striking, ravishing, drop-dead gorgeous, and all those summed.

"Hey", she says. I shake my head and close my lids forcefully, then open to gaze her.

"Oh, sorry, I'm just tired, I spaced out", she smirked as if she knew what was going on in my mind – bloody hell.

"I'm sure you are, miss...", and she prolongs the word 'miss' a bit, which I get as a cue for me to introduce myself.

"Hermione Granger"

"Oh, so you're Granger, right. I heard an awful lot about you", awful lot of awful stuff, I'm sure.

"And you're...", I already know, but I don't want to sound like a stalker.

"Samantha Lestrange"

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Samantha"

"Likewise, Granger", damn Slytherin and their habits to address me by my last name.

"Well, here's the ink", and she comes unnecessarily near to put it in the table, making me edgy. My breath's out of control, with those hazel eyes piercing through me, so I hold it for a while – I don't want her to notice. She smirks again, shoot, too late!

"You know, my fellow Slytherins are too harsh on you, you're much prettier than I heard you are", of course they... hold on, is she hitting on me? "oh, I know what you're thinking: 'is that girl really flirting with me?'. Your answer, Granger, is yes, I am", what?

I didn't have to wonder anymore, she pressed her lips on mine and left it all very clear, at least on my previous thoughts – a new confusion did settle, a confusion involving whys, but it was lost somewhere in the middle of that kiss, along with all my coherent thoughts.

I felt her arm wrap around me, caressing my shoulder lightly. Meanwhile, her hand came to rest on my lower back. Both actions gave me green lights to grab the nape of her neck a tad too aggressively, but I didn't fret about it much, especially because she arched her back slightly in approval.

I have to say, all my experience with kissing – a couple of times with Ron and a handful with a girl during summer – can be considered lame next to this one. Samantha ignited a fire I thought I'd never have for anyone, but I was plainly wrong: here I am, kissing her hungrily and not planning to stop anywhere soon. Okay, that's not entirely truth, after all, I do burn, pine and perish for Miss Ginevra Weasley. However, she's unattainable, so it doesn't really count...

Her hands move to the last button of my blouse and it makes me panic – I never been there before and never really wanted to, in my past relationships. Of course, all that fire that settled on me is talking me into let it happen, but no, I can't. I feel myself a lot more tense now and I'm not enjoying it as much, I'm mostly dreading the thought of going too far. How can I say that without spoiling everything?

I'm impressed, I really am. While I was having my internal fight about allowing or not, Samantha noticed my apprehension and stopped in her tracks, closing my opened last button and smiling into the kiss a bit. She returned her hand to my lower back and began to stroke my hair. Seriously, what's the probability? It's a bloody Slytherin! Think about it: a Slytherin not taking advantage of a situation due to feelings of others? It sounds like a freaking fairytale! I'd laugh if someone told me about it. However, it just happened and I'm not even chuckling, I'm only deeply relieved and a tad happy about it.

I suddenly wake up in my room – bloody dream and bloody Samantha! I glance the clock, five thirty and I already have a headache. This is going to be a hell of a day.

"Good morning, 'Mione", Ginny places a kiss in my cheek and smiles warmly, taking a seat next to me. I can see she's already got her quidditch uniform, despite her training with Gryffindor starting only at nine.

"Getting extra practice this early"

"Yes", she smiles enthusiastically, digging in her breakfast. Even though I found the attitude rather disgusting when it came from her brother, Ginny makes it seem almost cute. A little because her manners are a lot better than Ron's – it mustn't be very difficult, he made ogres look like sirs – but most of it is due to her attractiveness as a woman (I reckon it must be complicated for Ron to compete with his sister on that).

I observe her for a while: she's sitting with her legs mildly, curved into her cereal bowl, hair messily pulled back into a ponytail and bits of milk on the corner of her lips. Okay, she might not be the example of femininity, quite the contrary, but she still manages to be beautiful. She smiles innocently at me and I notice the milk's still there.

"Gin, you have a bit of milk on your lips. Here, let me wipe it for you", and I reach for it. She gets stunned and flushes lightly when I touch her. With the Great Hall all to ourselves and thus, deadly silent, I can hear her breath getting heavier.

Then realization hits me like a big yellow school bus: she openly fancies me now, because of Samantha's alteration in her memory. I wish to be a competent Legilimens now, just to see how much Samantha actually messed around in my friend's mind and if she told the truth when she stated she only forged a tiny conclusion that Ginny would draw eventually without any help. Last night's fury's back in part and it gets a tad intense when I remember I have a very vivid dream with the girl tonight.

"'Mione, are you ok? You're a little red"

"Yes, I'm fine, I'm fine. Just had a bad dream tonight, nothing more"

"Wanna talk about it?"

"No, thanks, Gin, I want to sort it out myself", I smile genuinely, my anger melting a bit due to her attention.

"You sure?", she raises an incredulous eyebrow, which makes me chuckle – I often say that I don't want to talk about it and ending up talking way too much about it.

"I'm positive", she nods respectfully and is back on munching another piece of toast, which I watch with my heart warmer by her preoccupation.

You know what? Screw Samantha, her goddamn spells and her constant incoherences! I always wanted Ginny, she was sweet, beautiful, caring and now she seemed to want me back – I have to admit, if I really end up dating her, I'd be actually glad the situation with Samantha happened. Ginny Weasley, my girlfriend – I smile dreamily at the thought and gaze at her, which makes her break into that heart melting smile I'm so fond of.

"What about you? Why are you here so early?", Ginny suddenly breaks the silence.

"I need to finish an essay", I lie curtly – if I say it was the nightmare's fault, her worries won't let me keep the silence I need about the subject.

"Of course! How could I assume differently?", she's earning a glare for that, "that's a shame, I'd love to have company in the pitch", I admit Ginny flirting with me in this subtle way is outright adorable.

"You're wrong when assuming I won't come with you. I'll be glad to do so, Miss Weasley", I wink. Her smiles widen, her nose wrinkling from it, and she drags me outside. I have to comment on her perfect timing: as we passed through the main gates, I heard heels clacking in the stairs – I made a fair effort not to look, and managed to accomplish the task, but it succeeded on tearing me from my perfect Ginny-only world. I forcefully shove all thoughts Samantha-related into the back of my mind after a few minutes and I'm back in heaven with my favourite redhead.

It's been months since I last saw Ginny flying and, though it never bores me, it had a greater impact today: first, she's a lot better than she used to be; second, I didn't quite remember the deep trance of concentration she sports when on a broom, or how it turned me on. Luckily I didn't, by the way, otherwise my attention would be cut in half in the past months – actually, it did, because of Samantha... no, no Samantha, enough of her!

I follow Ginny's fast stunts with my eyes, a ghost of a smile gracing my features. I'm glad I don't really have to finish the essay until next week, I wouldn't want to miss the spectacle she's giving me. However, I do open a book and write a draft, just to avoid suspicions.

She lands next to me in the stands and gets down for a pause before her official training begins. As she settles beside me, my eyes run through her figure and all I can think is that's she's freaking sexy: she's coveredin sweat, her hair's a fascinating mess and she's got that tomboy lean, with her elbows on the step above us and stretching herself four steps down, crossing her bare legs at her ankles.

You see, Ginny insists on wearing shorts to training sessions, even in the coldest days; she says it doesn't matter much, since she'll heated up after a while. I tried to talk her out of it, stating she could catch a cold, but I decided to leave it at the sight of her slender legs.

She looks at me, frowning to shield her blue eyes from excessive lighting.

"So, did I get better?"

"Much better", I smile and so does she, "Gin, I'd love to watch you practise some more, but I have potions now and you know how Snape gets grumpy when Gryffindors are late", she chuckles

"I know, I know"

"I see you at lunch?"

"Definitely", and I start walking away.

"Hermione!", she jogs after me.

"Wh-", and she pulls me into a kiss.

All the months I dreamt of this particular scene I couldn't make it proper – reality was much better. I expected it to be a little hungrier, you know, for her reputation as school vixen, but still, it was cloud nine.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for the reviews, favourites and alerts, people, they make my day!  
> I hope you guys liked this chapter as much I did. After all the conflicts in the last chapters, I thought keeping this one less tense would be better, but I'd appreciate your opinions on that.


	6. Third Last Look

I couldn't help but grin in my way to Potions – for the first time, I felt like Luna: in my own universe and gazing dreamily in the distance. I took my usual seat in the dungeons' classroom and, of course, my quarrel with Samantha came to mind, along with her 'I grew tired of you'. Hermione, focus, you just bloody kissed Ginny Weasley! Are you really going to let Samantha ruin that? No, no, absolutely not!

I concentrate to imagine my kiss with Ginny again – oh, boy, that's just too good! I let out a lovesick sigh, almost forgetting the hours of torture I'm about to endure. Snape stares at me and my permanent grin disgusted, possibly holding back some remark about Gryffindors and their abominable attitudes. My scarce seventh year colleagues often throw puzzled glances, as if asking 'what are you so happy about? We're having Potions!'. The half a dozen of Slytherins that are actually on time – Snape doesn't mind the ones that aren't, remember? – gossip about me indiscreetly and exchange smirks. None of it can ruin my mood.

However, my smile suddenly falters as I perceive a familiar sound coming from the corridor. I make the harsh decision of not even looking at her, anymore – 'leave me alone', right? Okay, then, wish granted, Lestrange. I can't really resist peaking as the clack stops, though, and I notice she provocatively took a seat right in front of me, crossing her legs in a Catherine Tramell fashion. Gulp. That was the last glance, I swear!

"So, Miss Granger, what happened to Miss Parkinson's Elixir, judging by the colour?", it was made by Parkinson, obviously, "Probably she stirred less than the exact four minutes it needs, then added all the Castor Beans together", Snape seemed displeased at the precise answer.

"Not only that", all the attention, including mine, went to Samantha, who never speaks in class, "if you look closely, the purple is slightly lighter than you accounted, Granger, which also means Pansy forgot to count her drops of Shrivelfig carefully – I'm guessing she added twenty five, instead of twenty seven. That would cause instabilities in the effect, such as quirks when smiling, making the drinker seem a little bit loony", where did that came from?

"Finally someone who truly studied!", he glanced at me disapprovingly, "twenty points to Slytherin" and hinted a smile at Samantha. Bitch.

"Hey, 'Mione", Ginny takes the empty seat next to me in the Gryffindor table. She's smiling brightly but, when noticing my foul mood, concern plasters over her pretty freckled face, "what happened? I thought I left you in great spirit", she raises the corner of her lips a bit while saying.

"You did", I can't hold my grin, "but then I had Potions"

"Yea, that explains it", she playfully gazes up in thought and nods, "well, I guess I have no choice but amuse you all over again, right?" and she winks, caressing my hair. Why can't Ginny be in my year? I wouldn't have to put up with those situations alone. We sit in silent for a bit, enjoying the feast provided for lunch.

"You know, people commented on how good I was at practice today. I blame certain inspirations", her blue orbs glister. I finally give her a full smile.

"You're so good at lighting me up, Gin"

"It's my redhead charms", you're one hundred percent right on that. I feel the urge to kiss her again – I only refrain to do it because we're in public. Instead, I lean in to kiss her cheek. However, Gin, being the flirtatious little tomboy she is, turns her face so I end up giving her a peck on the lips. I blush and she smirks cutely – it's so different from all the smirks I received from Samantha.

"Are you done with your food? I'd love to take you for a walk before your afternoon classes"

"Yes, I am. Have I told you're the most adorable thing?", I tap my finger lightly on her nose, making her wrinkle it and fluster.

"Maybe you did, but I assure you I'll lie every single time just to make you say it again", she steals me another peck – Merlin, she's good.

In these two days, Ginny accomplished the impossible: she yanked Samantha of my mind most of the daytime – until now. I came down to the dungeons to handle my essay to Professor Snape. I hate this place, it's all humid and poor lit, with only a few torches in the entire corridor.

"Lumos", I hold my wand in front of me, observing my surroundings carefully – Slytherin territory is dangerous territory. I hear a giggle, making me spin quickly to search for the source, but I find nothing. I tap lightly at the potions classroom and extinguish my wand's light.

"Come in", I enter the room

"Professor, my essay", he nods curtly and snatches it from my hand, reading it quickly.

"Should I go?", I'm confused. Being Snape, he only throws me a glare.

"No, so I can make any remarks with you here and be spared of your complaints about my corrections", and he's back to holding the parchment in front of his face, eyes shifting agily.

Having nothing to do, my gaze wanders around the room. I notice a small stack of papers in his desk – it's none of my business, I'm well aware, but since the first line reads 'Modifications of the Polyjuice Potion formula, by Severus Snape and Samantha Lestrange', I'm more than curious, so I go on for a bit: 'According to our research, the Polyjuice Potion can be altered to last longer and grant the drinker the same voice of the target' – wait, research? Samantha's Snape research assistant? That's surprising, and it does explain a lot, since when I met her in Ginny's form, she sounded like Ginny too. Not only that, people don't usually have spare amounts of Polyjuice to blackmail other people.

"Good, Granger", Snape snaps me out of my train of thoughts, "Thought I assumed correctly when I thought you wouldn't include Miss Lestrange's clever remark out of stubbornness"

"I did give it a thought, Professor, but I haven't found any sources that supported her"

"You should try 'Moste Potente Potions', they have a copy upstairs"

"In the restricted section", Snape pursed his lips.

"If I recall correctly, Minerva granted you access, so I don't see the issue"

"Well, since most students don't have permission, I thought you'd grade us on the same level", I'm holding back a frown, this man is impossible.

"Well, you thought wrong", he grades it 'Exceed Expectations' and tosses the parchment at me, "now disappear"

"Thanks, Professor", and as I walk away, I can't hold my scowl anymore. As I'm back on the dungeons corridor, I catch the goddamn giggle again, so I walk towards it quietly. Have you ever heard that 'the curiosity killed the cat'? I did, though I reckon it wasn't enough for me to learn.

There's Samantha and one of the prettiest girls I've ever seen – well, another one – chatting rather flirtatiously. The girl's got her back against the corridor wall and is grinning mischievously, Samantha has her signature smirk plastered over her flawless face and they're too near for me to assume it's a friendly situation. I feel a pang of jealousy and I want to flee, but I also want to make sure I'm not just paranoid, so I stand silently and try to listen to their conversation.

"I guess you're way too wicked, even for me", Samantha says with a chuckle, tucking a strand of the girl's hair behind her ear.

"Is there such a thing, Samantha?", the girl bites her lower lip.

"Yes, but it's a category only you fit in", Samantha purrs and looks down at the girl. I feel a stab and I'm not sure if I want to find out more, but I stay in place in fear they'll perceive me, "Don't worry, I find it alluring", she said hoarsely. Oh Merlin, please don't have sex right in front of me...

"You're such a tease, you know that, right?"

"Of course I do, Tori, and you love me for it"

"I'd like you best if you were not only a tease", the girl nears Samantha and I swallow hard.

"As much as I appreciate your witty attempts to seduce me, I can't help but wonder: you don't give up, do you?"

"Why should I? It could ruin my chances of getting lucky with you one day", Samantha laughs at the girl's blatancy.

"I'm not fond of fooling around and you're well aware of that. You needn't worry, though, you're first in line if I change my mind about that, you sexy vixen", Samantha says it a breath away from the girl's face, with a finger against the girl's lips. I can see the once malicious girl's paralyzed under Samantha's gaze. Samantha whispers something in the girl's ear, making her bite her lip once more and take a deep breath, closing her eyes.

"Meanwhile, you can go play with your Ravenclaw girl-toy", she releases the girl and starts walking towards the Slytherin common room.

"You're a bitch!", the girl runs after her, throwing her arms around Samantha. They both are facing the other way, but I'm sure Samantha's smirking. When they're gone, I make my way to the library and an infernal rush of thoughts take over me – 'not fond of fooling around'? Did she actually think she had a bloody relationship with me? This girl needs a freaking reality check in her concept of 'relationship', after all, making the other person forget about everything doesn't come close to it – I let out a sarcastic chuckle and try to go back to my work. After a frustrated while of attempts, I realize despite my humorous remarks about what I eavesdropped, I know my old friend confusion isn't leaving me for the night and I promise myself again never to look at the girl.

After I witnessed the dialogue between both girls, not even Ginny could keep my thoughts away from Samantha – the girl felt like an infuriatingly hard puzzle, no matter how many pieces I got, I couldn't seem to fit them together in any way. I started to contemplate the possibility of the girl being insane, but I felt Samantha was way too logically driven and seemed to have lots of thoughtful plans for her actions to be random.

My nights didn't help too – since the day I kissed Ginny, I dreamt of Samantha, night after night, the same utterly realistic dreams I had earlier that day. They all are in the same fashion: I'm studying in my corner of the library, Samantha hits on me and we end up making out. Hold on a second... what if those were the memories Samantha erased?

I rush to the library and get some books on Charms – they all talk about wand technique, pronunciation but none states about memory recovery side effects. Guess it's a pretty advanced topic for this more didactic books, I need something scientific. However, I have the brilliant idea of checking the clock just before moving to the restricted section tomes – oh, shoot, I have five minutes to get to the dungeons!

I wake up startled on Friday, missing the days my dreams with Samantha involved only very hot make out sessions, not this wanton sex. I lay in bed, gazing the ceiling, trying to make it go away and very aware of my arousal. My clouded mind begs me to do something about it and I can't really resist the temptation – I masturbate until I climax, having the blonde seductress that filled my all my recent thoughts in mind.

When the excitement's haze's gone, guilt floods. How could I do that? I was with Ginny! I loved her! Oh Merlin... to say I was disappointed with myself is a terrible understatement. Really, this girl hardly deserves all the attention I gave her and now I'm trading the girl who always been there for me with her? That's plain dumb! Why can't I just forget the bitch? I got off bed before I did another similar stupidity.

Calm down, Hermione, calm the fuck down! I try to reason a bit and I take a breath. so maybe I was very sexually attracted to Samantha, alright. People are sexually attracted to each other every day, right? For instance, the pretty girl that was with Samantha – I'd totally go for that. However, if it doesn't go further, and I'm sure it doesn't, it shouldn't be a problem. I have the hots for Samantha, but I love my beautiful Ginny and I'd never betray her on that. Settling on that, I begin to prepare for the joyful day that is Friday – my favourite classes, favourite meals and a lot of free time with my favourite redhead.

I sit at the Gryffindor table, with my back turned to it so I can look at Luna fully as we chat. I haven't talked to the girl in forever, I miss her! Then again, I've been a little caught up with all the events.

"So, there are these rumours about you and Ginny, are those true?"

"Yes, very true", I smile proudly.

"That's great, Hermione! So, I assume you're over... her, then?"

"Over who?", I frown and she eyes the Slytherin table.

"Oh, no, you mean Samantha? Yes, she was just a silly crush", she pierces through me with those blue eyes – she knows I'm not telling the truth.

However, I'm saved by Ginny, who's all sweaty from practice and looks extremely hot.

"Excuse us from a bit, Luna?"

"Of course", the blonde smiles dreamily and I can tell she's thinking something along the lines of 'they're so cute together'.

Ginny boldly straddles me in the bench and kisses me fiercely, making public display of affection a very mild expression to describe the scene. Though my mind's truly occupied with all of it, I can distinguish the wolf whistles all over the room and a general murmur. She ends the kiss with a peck and smiles at me.

"Hello, gorgeous!"

"Merlin, I don't know what came over you, but I want it always", I smirk.

"Kiss her again!", I hear the annoying tone from Zabini's voice.

"As much as I love you on top of me, I don't like all this attention, can we leave that for later?", I whisper to her, making she peck me again.

"Of course", she winks and takes the seat right next to me.

The tumult of whistles and murmurs continue, despite our now behaved positions. I'm still looking at Ginny, but I discern the fast clacking of Samantha's stilettos and my eyes are instinctively drawn to her – she's leaving rather urgently. Before she disappears, she throws one last glance at me and the turmoil that I calmed a few hours ago is back in full throttle, much to my dismay.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, another chapter! I'm quite happy with it – it features my favourite canon Slytherin, Astoria Greengrass (that's the girl talking to Samantha in the dungeons). That scene, in particular, made me want to make they interact more, I think they're SO HOT together, what do you guys think?  
> This chapter's pretty angst for Hermione, but I tried to make it as light hearted as possible, just because I don't like angst, I find it a tad boring =) A lots of scene cuts, I hope you aren't bothered by that. Anyway, tell me what you think about it!
> 
> PS: I'm sorry to have to repost the chapter, but after 8 hours, the link still doesn't work – I got kind of frustrated, since that's not the first time it happened to me


	7. Samantha Black

I need a bloody break to figure all this mess out in my head, that's why I slept in, skipped breakfast and now I'm taking an alternate route to the grounds, using the Marauder's map Harry gave me. I plan to visit Hagrid, have a nice cup of tea with him and chat idly about anything that doesn't involve my emotional/sexual life, I believe it to have taken a huge part of my time and thoughts lately and I'm fed up with it.

I shove the map in my pocket and knock.

"Hermione!", the big guy says excitedly, "long time no see, m'dear!", he pulls me into a hug.

"Hagrid, hi!"

"So, what brings y'here?"

"Hogwarts is rather stressing sometimes, so I thought I could ease my mind by spending some with you", I smile weakly.

"Of course! You're always welcome here, girly!"

"Thanks, Hagrid", my grin spreads at his display of care.

"So, what're y'waiting for? C'mon in!", I enter the hut, "here, I wanna show ya something"

"Hagrid! Another dragon?", the one metre on the table creature cough smoke on them.

"Isn't it cute? It's an Ukranian Ironbelly! The name's Rupert", he smiled contently, "it's two months, already – I think it's going to reach fifteen metres in length!"

"And how are you planning on hiding it?"

"I don't need to. Charlie gave me the egg and fetched the authorization"

"That's great!"

"Yes! And he comes often to check how's the big guy, last time he said he'd never seen one so well – I think Rupert likes me!", the half-giant beams with pride, then puts a hand in my shoulder, "listen, Hermione... since you're here, I need a favour. I can't leave Rupert by himself, I gotta feed him every half hour"

"Of course, I'll do my best to help you! I'm in debt, since we haven't seen each other for so long"

"No need to worry 'bout that, Hermione! Anyway, I need brandy for the baby here, mine's running out already. I talked to Firenze – don't know if you remember him, the Centaur"

"I do, I do"

"So, he's quite the drinker, he he, and he promised to fetch a barrel o'brandy for the kiddo here. You see, normal brandy's pretty expensive, but those guys make high quality brandy for the nicest price I've seen!"

"Alright, where do I find him?"

"Forbidden Forest", I raise an eyebrow at him.

"You say like's a small place"

"They live northeast from here – take this compass, it'll help you out"

"Alright, be back soon!"

"Okay, I'll make tea!", I grin and leave. Sounds like an easy task, right. I pull out my wand and enter the forest.

I've been walking for quite a while and no sign of the bloody centaurs, which is just great!

Oh, hang on, I hear something! I walk quietly to the source of the noises and, when I see two cloaked people, I hide behind the nearest tree.

"Uncle!", I know this voice...

"Sam!", this voice, too, is strangely familiar. And Merlin, what a place to have a family reunion!

"I'm glad you received my owl on time", I think harder: this girl, Sam, do I know a person nicknamed Sam? Wait... Sam, as in Samantha? Plain weird to think of such affectionate nickname for the heartless girl, but it does seem like her voice.

"Me too, it sounded rather urgent. What happened?"

"I screwed up", she lets out a sigh.

"Oh, another cover up attempt, I guess. Really, Corona and her ideology: 'you have to honour the Black family', nah, bunch of snobbish, empty headed people! Doesn't she realize that'll eventually ruin your life?", Black family? Samantha's related to the Blacks?

"Uncle..."

"I'm worried, Sam, I think you'll eventually hurt people, or worse, hurt yourself", another sigh from the girl.

"I already did", I never heard Samantha so fragile, which makes me think if it's I'm mistaken about her identity.

"Oh, Sam... tell me what happened, I'm all ears", that caring tone is so familiar...

"I made an enormous mess", really descriptive, I'm impressed.

"You're not helping"

"Well, there's this girl which I like. I mean, really like", I gasp almost inaudibly, when the possibility of the said girl being me crosses my mind. They become silent for a while and I wonder if they heard me. Then a huge black dog appears in front of me, sniffing my shoes, and I let out a terrified scream.

"Hermione!", Sirius regains his human form

"Sirius, you scared the living hell out of me!", he lets out a chuckle.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to. What are you doing here?"

"I'm doing a favour for Hagrid", he starts walking and motions for me to follow him.

"Oh, really? What kind of favour? I might be able to help"

"I'm looking for Firenze, the centaur"

"I have seen that guy! The blonde one, right? With the brightest blue eyes you've ever seen?"

"That's him, yes!"

"He went that way", he points northeast, just like Hagrid predicted, "but wait up, I want you to meet someone", Samantha gazes deeply at me, I can see fear in her eyes – possibly of being overheard.

"Granger", she nods in acknowledgement.

"Samantha, hello", I nod back politely.

"So you two met before!", yes, we did, if your definition of meeting includes lots of memory spells, Polyjuice potion and a significant amount of incoherent acting.

"Yes, but we haven't had much contact – you know, Slytherins and Gryffindors", I grin to Sirius.

"Some things never change, do they?" Sirius smiles, "It's a shame you didn't choose Gryffindor, Sam, people in Slytherin tend to be...", choose Gryffindor? She had a choice? How the hell, was the Sorting Hat drunk or something?

"I know, I know, uncle. You're a tad biased, though"

"Proudly biased, my dear", he smiles and, surprisingly, she does too. My breath is snatched away from me, the coherent thoughts are gone, so I can't really muster an answer. All I can do is smile back and face the truth of being head over heels for the gorgeous figure that is Samantha Lestrange.

"So...", Sirius snaps me out of my ridiculous admiring of his beautiful niece.

"Ah, yes, I gotta go, have to find the centaur, so I'll leave you two by yourselves"

Evening falls and I'm at the library, researching the Black family and continuing my research on the Obliviate charm, started a few days about. I discovered a few things: Samantha's the only child of Rabastan Lestrange, brother-in-law to Bellatrix, and Corona Lyra Black, Sirius' sister and Bellatrix's cousin. She's related to Bellatrix twice, imagine that! There's not much more information, so I move on to Obliviate, opening the first book in the pile I picked at the page on the aforementioned spell.

"Where have you been?", Ginny says in a rather loud and irritated tone.

"Hush! We're at the library, Gin"

"Where. have. you. been?", oh, shoot, she's pissed.

"Let's go outside and I'll explain everything"

Merlin, that was difficult. I knew by experience that Gin possessed quite a temper, but I didn't expect it to become that much stronger when getting to the lover status – it took me good half an hour to calm her down and tons of apologies to make it right, and I think it's still not that sorted out.

I sit down at my usual chair and sigh, thinking about Ginny, Samantha and all the situation that built between the three of us. A bitter feeling takes control as I remember my realization in the forest – as much as I hate myself for it, I was in love with Samantha and I couldn't keep things with Ginny like that, it was just selfish of me. Now I just needed my Gryffindor courage to back me up.

I look at the table, my things were all moved, a different book was opened at Obliviate page and there was a piece of folded parchment on it. I spread it out, it read:

History of Pure-blooded Families? Your nosiness never ceases to amaze me, Granger. Anyway, my relationship with Sirius is not of common knowledge, so I'd like to kindly ask you to keep it that way.

I see you've been researching the Obliviate Charm. I made quite an investigation on it earlier on the term, so I marked the pages I found useful for you, to save you the trouble. I have to compliment you on your book selection, too, you seem to know which of them are good almost by heart.

Thanks in advance,

S. L. B.

Samantha Lestrange Black? I didn't know she carried Black too. Anyway, leave it to Samantha to mock me when 'kindly asking' a favour, it's so conceited and bitchy that's almost amusing. On the other hand, she marking the pages for me is so sweet it's strange and the praise just make the note seem awkward when I think it's written by Samantha, after all, she appears to be... nice.

I'm suddenly aware that this thoughts aren't productive and can lead me on – she was asking me a favour, of course she was nice! Better get back to my research, it'll be a nice distraction.

Hours later and several feet of parchment written, I return to my room to think about the whole situation with my newly found facts – for reference, here they are:

Obliviate moves the 'erased' memory to the unconscious, not erasing it truly – that's why it can be reverted.

Obliviate doesn't modify feelings, since they reside on the unconscious already. So, a person who loved another will keep loving, even if he or she doesn't know the sources of the feelings.

Reverting Obliviate seldom has side effects such as dreams with the often forgotten memories

Those are the important points, at least. Having that, let's recapitulate: Samantha, for some reason, chose me as her target. She used her knowledge that my feelings wouldn't change even if she used Obliviate and we met frequently in the library like all the dreams I've been having lately. According to the books, those dreams are actually a reliving of all our encounters. This left me quite surprised, though I already carried the suspicion, mostly because Samantha's been awfully nice in the dreams, not acting like the almost rapist I pictured her to be.

Of course the thought of her forging new memories to instigate my forgiveness crossed my mind, but I found the hypothesis truly doubtful after a short time reasoning, due mostly to the immense amount of time and energy one needs to craft a memory, making me also conclude that she kept Ginny hostage the whole night before our confront in the Gryffindor common room to forge that small conclusion.

She did all of it to cover up her lesbian relationship with a muggle-born from her very traditional family – I finish the thoughts about it. Wow, quite the elaborate and clever plan there, Samantha, you're much, much smarter than I give you credit for. Oh, yes, and according to my eavesdropped information, she fell for me in the middle of it – I can't really digest this part.

I hear a light tap on my window, it's a big brown owl with a piece of parchment attached to it. I unroll it:

Hermione!

I was really glad to meet you today, it's quite a pity you couldn't stay longer. However, I wish to solve that, so will you accept my offer to have a cup of tea at Aberforth's, let's say, five o'clock?

Cheers,

Sirius

I smile at the quick note and scribble an 'of course!' at the bottom. Then I tie the parchment back to the bird, send it away and go back to bed.

"Hermione, how have you been? I haven't talked to you in ages!"

"I'm fairly well, thanks for asking, Sirius. And yourself?"

"Never been better", he smiles and sips the scalding tea. We engage in a bit of small talk about Harry and other common friends, but the subject exhaust itself quickly.

"So... I know there's something you're dying to ask me. Or better, someone you're dying to ask me about", I smile weakly

"Am I that transparent?"

"Sorry, but the long stare you gave at my niece yesterday forces me to say you're clear as water", oh, Merlin, what will Samantha think about it?

"Oh"

"I know she's a rather pretty girl and attracts attention to herself, so I'm not blaming you", I smile weakly, but the colour isn't back to my face yet.

"That doesn't worry me, Sirius, I know you'd never judge me..."

"If you're worrying about her reaction, don't. I'm sure she didn't mind"

"Not that – she's quite aware of the effect she has on people. I don't like to give her the satisfaction", I sigh, feeling a bit bad to confess that to her uncle.

"You have a twisted picture of her, I see"

"She is to blame for that", I add quickly and he chuckles.

"I'm sure she is! You see, Samantha's a very complicated young girl. Her mother, my elder sister, Corona Lyra, was very close to me and Regulus at early age. We always shared the thought this pure-blood supremacy was bullshit, but Regulus didn't. Eventually, he was killed because of it – well, you already know this story, don't you?", I smile and nod, "but Corona was different than me: she wanted to please our parents, so she choose Slytherin over Gryffindor in her sorting and did her best to avoid contact with muggle borns. I tried to talk her out of it, of course I did, and she believed me, she even had her rebellious attacks for a while. Then she met Rabastan Lestrange, a loyal Death-Eater and champion of purism, and fell deeply in love with him. She held her beliefs close, but she couldn't shove it down people throats anymore like I did, not when she was married to a very traditional man. That feeling got worse when I got disowned of the Black family: she was mortified – the family meant everything to her, she wouldn't want to risk it in any hypothesis, so she chose to live a partial lie, taking her husband's and siblings opinions as her own"

"Wow, that's a heartbreaking story"

"Isn't it? Samantha was raised as a spoiled brat because of it until the age of thirteen. We've always been quite close, she often told me I was her favourite person besides her mother. I felt I should tell her the truth, so when I thought it she was old enough, weeks after her thirteenth birthday, I told her about Regulus' death, not sparing many details. She was revolted, and cried an awful lot, but I made her swear she wouldn't tell her mother, otherwise she'd separate us. However, the knowledge made her grow up from all the prejudice they installed in her head and she became more like me. We grew even closer, but as soon as I was disowned, a year after I told her about Regulus, Corona prohibited Samantha of talking to me, fearing the same would happen to her daughter. Being the stubborn brilliant kid she is, Samantha made a plan to correspond to me in secret and was never discovered. At the age of fifteen, she told me about her girl preferences – I was quite proud of her for mustering the courage, and I bit relieved, boys are arseholes", I let out a chuckle on that remark.

"You sound like a worried father"

"I am, in some aspect of it. Her father was incarcerated in Azkaban when she had two years, only fleeing from it with Bellatrix two years ago"

"Oh, yes, that makes perfect sense"

"She also told her mother her sexual orientation and her beliefs. She was understanding and sympathetic, urged her to hide everything from the family. She did hide, and still does, better than anyone else – she even managed to be the favourite person of the family: Narcissa, Bellatrix, Andromeda, they all loved her as if she was the Black's little doll – Narcissa's dream is Samantha marrying Draco, actually", ew, no, "She does all this because she loves Corona dearly and she knows it would tear her mother apart to she her disowned, so she often disregards herself to keep all her secrets buried"

"Wow"

"So, how's your portrait of Samantha now?"

"I don't know, I keep wondering if we're talking about the same person", he chuckles.

"I presume she was pretty awful with you, then"

"You have no idea"

"And you still like her?

"Apparently my emotional side's a tad dumb, so yes", I look down, To tell you the truth, I'm pretty sure I'm in love with your niece", Sirius opens a wide happy grin with that.

"Well, I'm gonna disown her myself if she lets the opportunity of having the brightest witch of her age as her girlfriend go away", I laugh and he smiles again, "And please, spare me from Samantha's wrath by keeping our rendezvous in secret"

"Alright", I chuckle.

"Good luck with her, Hermione"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, to the canon nazis: I took the liberty of sparing Sirius from Azkaban, because Samantha's born in 1979 (just like Hermione) and Sirius is thrown into Azkaban in 1981 (same year as Samantha's father, Rabastan Lestrange) and I couldn't make them have a close relationship with him being in prison or being dead. Please don't hate me for that, it was with the good intention of making all of you and Hermione understand Samantha's background and not make her do it (that would be very out of character, in my opinion).  
> Anyway, I hope you liked it! Cheers, people!


	8. Cutest Insufferable Thing

My whole way back to the castle is filled with organizing the enormous quantity of information I've been provided in the last week and trying to remove the contrasting points. I'm having a lot of trouble to picture Samantha as a nice girl in a complicated situation, she'd been unnecessarily mean to me sometimes – recaps of all my scenes with Samantha flood to my mind.

I try to put things in a timeline and dig her motivations: first she was uncharacteristically nice, in all the dreams. Then Ginny found out about us, she altered Ginny's memory to make her finally realize she liked me and to erase the scene she witnessed – until here, it makes sense, she wanted to hide it from people, so that's why she erased the girl's memory and she forced Ginny's conclusion to make me go after Ginny, instead of after her, even if I had feelings for her (remember Obliviate doesn't erase feelings?).

Things start to get real tricky when she confronted me in my room: her logical course of actions would be erase my memories too and end all the mess, unless... unless she didn't really want it to happen! I remember Sirius' words: 'she often disregards herself to keep her secrets buried', but what if she wasn't able to do it, this time? Yes, yes, that makes total sense! Her original plan was to erase my memory, but her feelings for me got in the way, so she couldn't do it. And that also explains why when we talked, she was more than harsh to me: guilt of doing something she shouldn't. She couldn't erase my memory there, I was armed at all times, so she just made sure I'd hate her – Great, I have a theory, I just need evidence now.

I find myself at the library's huge doors and stare stupidly at them until I absorb all the conclusions fully – Merlin, what a wild ride! I finally enter the place and go to my favourite spot; to my surprise, Samantha's there studying. I sit at my usual table, open my book on Transfiguration – history of transfiguring spells, to be more accurate, a light reading for a troubled week – and it doesn't take more than a second for her to call me.

"You received my note, Granger?", I take a deep breath and focus: I had lots of information now that soften my points of view, but I couldn't let that get in the way of confirming my suspicions.

"I did", I don't raise my eyes, "thanks for the markings, it did save me a lot of time"

"Why, you're welcome", I can hear her smirk, "you haven't replied the other part, though"

"Well, I decided to give it a thought first, after all, you've been a naughty girl to me lately", I smirk.

"Really?", I eye her and I notice for the first time with Samantha, I have the upper hand.

"Yes, I'm contemplating both options", I return my eyes to the book, though I can't really read it while in a tense situation with her.

"And what do you get from sharing my secret, other than my hatred?", she looks almost adorable – don't get me wrong, Samantha doesn't look adorable, she always looks hot –, playing with a curl of blonde hair and with a sarcastic smile.

"Nothing, but I recall you doing pretty much the same", she chuckles.

"As if I wasted my time with useless actions"

"Then enlighten me on why you recovered my memory, I'm terribly curious", seeing Samantha get nervous is truly priceless, so I can't help a smirk. She stays silent from a bit and her gaze wanders around the room, "You realized I'm waiting for your reply, didn't you, Black?", her eyes lock with mine when I say her last name and she seems surprised, "so...?"

"It was a mistake, alright, I shouldn't have done it!", she whispers a bit shakily. I feel my satisfied smirk forming – turns out I'm right! However, I want to provoke further, so I tilt my head a bit and look into her apprehensive eyes.

"I don't think you quite understood the question – I'm not asking about the correctness of your course of actions, I'm enquiring about motives", say you like me to my face, Samantha, I dare you.

"And what if I don't tell you?"

"Then I'm afraid you have to suffer the consequences"

"Are you blackmailing me?", she laughs, "that's sweet, you know, but I don't believe you can do it", I feel my smirk faltering, ugh, bitch.

"Yes, you're right, because I'm brave enough to actually to the right thing, unlike you", she looks serious at me and I see the hint of sadness in her eyes before I turn to leave, "don't worry about the note, I won't tell, but keep in mind I'm doing it for Sirius, not for you", and I walk away.

"Gin, we have to talk", Gryffindor, come to my aid, please.

"About?", she's a bit harsh – great, she still has hard feelings about yesterday.

"About us", concern and fear mix in her blue eyes and I have a feeling she already knows what I'm going to say. Sadness floods me about it.

"Shoot it", she says emotionless.

"I can't keep this", she's trying hard to maintain her posture, but I know my best friend – she's crumbling inside, it breaks my heart to do it, but I finally utter "I'm in love with someone else"

"What?", oh, rats, the fury.

"Wait, wait... I didn't cheat on you, I'd never do that, you know me", she eyes me suspiciously, tears forming in her eyes.

"Who's the bitch?"

"I can't tell you"

"Hermione", now she's growling.

"It's not only my secret to tell", I purse my lips nervously and try not to cry, "please don't hate me"

"You say like it's easy! I overcame lots of things for you, Hermione!", ouch.

"I'm sorry, I never meant for it to happen, but it did! A few months ago, if someone told me about me breaking up with you, I'd laugh hard, I was in love with you for so long", my emotional ramble ends with fresh tears in my face.

"Well, if that's what you want...", and she twists her face as if she had something bitter in her mouth.

"I'm truly sorry, Ginny", I know I repeated it lots and lots of times, but I mean it, with all my heart.

"Okay, have a nice life with mystery girl, then", she spits and walks away, leaving me crying by myself.

After a while, I decide to go to the library and read to forget all the stressful situation for a bit. Samantha looked pretty hurt with me, so I believe – I hope, at least – I won't meet her there again.

Fortunately, I was right. I sit at the table, which still had the book I was previously reading on it – good, it spares me the trouble of Accioing it. I open at the page and a scribbled text appears as I touch the paper: "I did it because I like you" in an elegant hand writing I was already familiar with; I can't help but grin idiotically, despite the recent events. Samantha, aren't you the cutest insufferable thing I've ever met?

Not only insufferable, but terribly proud too – since she wrote me the note, she'd been avoiding me like her life depended on it, so I haven't met her a bloody single time yet. Two weeks passed since my break up with Ginny, it's almost Christmas break. However, it didn't stop Professor Flitwick from asking me some favours like organizing the material in the Charms class – he stated it's the first step to becoming a professor's assistant, "you have to know where to find everything", and winked, making me grin proudly – and that's where I'm heading now.

I'm a bit surprised to find the door already opened.

"Depulso", I suddenly become aware of a high speed object coming towards me.

"Protego", the object breaks in my shield immediately after I say it – that was close.

"What are you doing here, Granger?", she forces a calm voice, hazel eyes narrowed.

"What the hell are you doing, Samantha?", oh, no, my material!

"If you must how, Ms. Head Girl, I'm training my banishing charm", she smirks to add reality to her part, but I'm still not convinced.

"Right", I look deeply into her eyes.

"Now would you mind leaving me alone?"

"No", Samantha purses her lips and, after a long pause, sighs.

"Please, Granger, we're done", with that, she scowls in annoyance. I can feel a little sting when she says that, but I'm not giving in.

"I can hardly see the connection between this fact and me staying in this room", she rolls her eyes, frustrated with my matter-of-factly tone.

"Look, let's just leave it, I'm going elsewhere"

"No, you're not"

"What the hell is wrong with you, Granger?", she is clearly irritated now, "Can't get your hands of off me?", but tries to regain her cool and smirks once again.

"You're the one who said you'd miss me", snap, "and wrote you liked me"

"And you're a naive Gryffindor who believes everything, apparently", that hurts, you infuriatingly proud girl.

"Of course, that's what's expected of us, isn't it? I have to say it is also very original for a Slytherin to lie and deceive. I guess we're both in character then, aren't we?", Snap again, "you're very right, Black, about two things: I'm a bloody idiot for assuming that could be remotely close to the truth and for staying this long to find out", I want to cry, so I do the only reasonable thing in my reach: I turn to leave.

I should've learnt to never let my guard down like that with Samantha and turning my back on her counts as it, because again, she pulls me into a very heated kiss which I just can't resist. When she pulls away gently, she has that very uncomfortable look on her eyes, as if fighting against something inside her.

"Sometimes I hate how bloody smart you are", my heart almost melts to that, but I focus to not let myself carried away.

"Colloportus", I say, pointing my wand at the door.

"Well, aren't you naughtier than I expected", she smirks.

"You owe me an explanation"

"And what makes you think I'm giving you that?", note to self: have a better plan next time; or at least, have a plan. But suddenly, a wild idea hits me.

"I'm fairly optimistic about my persuasion skills", I say next to her ear, in a very Samantha fashion. She just narrows her eyes, which makes me guess she doesn't like my mock imitation of her.

"Last week, as you surely remember, I was studying the Obliviate charm – thanks for the help, by the way, I'd never fully understand it without you. Anyway, the book you provided me stated that the affected memory is moved to the unconscious, meaning the feelings attached to it remain"

"Right, and why are you giving me that Charms lessons? I thought I had proven myself good at the subject", she looks annoyed.

"You did! You excel at it, don't you?", I smile mischievously – I think Samantha grew on me a bit, "in fact, if I'm not mistaken, that's the piece of information you used to progress my relationship with you. Even though I didn't remember, my feelings stood the same"

"Well observed, Granger, I'm proud. I'm going to put a golden star on your forehead, now"

"Keep your sarcasm to yourself, Black. My point is: no matter how good you are at Charms, you can't make this situation go away, not entirely"

"As if I care"

"You're not that good of a liar, Black. And your actions tell me otherwise"

"If you got it all figured all, why do you ask for the explanation?", she's terribly sexy narrowing her eyes like that.

"I have to quote you on this one: 'because I'd love to hear it from you'", I'm impressed on how mean I sound.

"You think you're such a bad girl now, don't you, Granger?"

"I learnt from the best", I smirk and she can't help to do it too, "so, tell me the one thing I haven't figured out yet: why me?", I can tell she's trying to muster an evasive counter by the look on her face. After a while of silence, she just gives up and redirects her gaze to the floor.

"Why do you want to know, aren't you with Weasley, finally?"

"No, not anymore", I deadpan.

"Why?", her breath gives away her tension and she stares at me deeply.

"After you, my dear", she looks away again.

"The answer's pretty simple: I fancied you for a while, so I decided to make it real in the safest way", she looks so disgusted to say it that I think she'll hurl any minute now. She then stares right into my eyes, trying to be dignified in her defeat, but I can tell it's hurting her, "your turn", I near her.

"I decided to take my chances with that hot, stuck-up, Slytherin girl I know", that makes her smile at me, for the first time ever – did I mention how gorgeous is the portrait of Samantha Lestrange Black smiling? Good, just to make sure.

"And what if she doesn't comply with your wishes?"

"Oh, she will. She can't really admit it, but I'm the only one who can coax her into things"

"Yes", she shakes her head and smiles, again. Merlin, I'll never cease to get amazed of the sight, "and I assure you she hates that"

"I bet she loves to hate it, though", I grin a bit and lean in to kiss her again.

"You're still stuyding?"

"Yes", I sort of whine, "I have Flitwick's report due tomorrow, but I can't seem to get it right!"

"You want me to have a look?"

"Yes, that would be lovely"

"I'm not doing it for free, Granger – that's a shame, you're dating me for quite a while, four months, if I'm not mistaken, and haven't learnt to negotiate properly", she smirks and I chuckle.

"Alright, let me think about your prize, then", I say and I stand up from my chair, grinning.

"That's more like it"

"What about...", I whisper in her ear, making her shiver, "I...", kiss on her neck and I embrace her, "get you a cup of tea", and I break into a fit of laughter.

"You little-", and I kiss her rather aggressively.

"Four months and you're still so easy to piss off. And you look so bloody hot narrowing your eyes at me, so I can't help myself"

"Really?", she purrs and kiss me.

"I'm dead serious", I wink.

"So, where was I? Oh, yes, I had to give you a good reason to help me with my report. Let me think...", and I press my lips to her ear, "the sooner I finish here, the sooner I can sneak you into my room and ravish you at will, so...", she kisses me forcefully.

"You needn't waste more time, I'm already convinced", she interrupts rather urgently.

"Good", I smile and handle her my paper.

"Ginny!", I'm alarmed by the sudden appearance of the girl in my room.

"You know it's quite rude of you to mistake my name like that, right?", Samantha mumbles groggily and shifts position in bed.

"Oh, Merlin!", Ginny is frozen in place, bright blue eyes wide open. That makes Samantha look the other way scared and then pull the sheets over us.

"What are you doing here?", I try remain calm, but cold sweat's dripping.

"I came to apologize, but I see I couldn't have found a worse time"

"Well, technically, you could...", but I trail off due to the glares I receive from both girls, "okay, let me explain"

"What's there to explain, 'Mione? The picture is self-explanatory: you're fucking Samantha Lestrange"

"Err, dating", I blush and she frowns, "but you mustn't tell anyone, please"

"Well, ok", she purses her lips, the awkwardness of the scene still getting to her, "I'll just go now, but I catch you later, 'Mione", Ginny's very red and leaves the room in a hurry.

"Now that we're awake and alone, have I told you you're absolutely gorgeous when naked in my bed, you little devil?", I run my hand through Samantha's now bare thigh.

"Stop it with the teasing, Granger, I'm not over the incident with your redheaded eye-candy"

"Yet", and I move myself on top of her and kiss her fiercely.

"Samantha Lestrange, really?", Ginny asks incredulously with a smirk as soon as we're far enough from the castle.

"Are you mad?", I'm a bit tense about it.

"No, I'm impressed. I always thought you'd never match me with another girl from school, but it seems I forgot my best friend was such the overachiever", I laugh.

"You're so conceited!", I slap her on the arm playfully.

"Yes, I am", she inflates her chest in mock pride and we resume laughing.

"Are we good then?", she smiles.

"Yes, we're good", and she pulls me into a hug.

"So, how've you been?", I tilt my head a bit.

"Great, I'm dating a Hufflepuff girl, I don't know if you've heard about that", she's got that satisfied grin plastered that makes me happy for her.

"Of course I did, it's the talk of the school for a week, already", I begin laughing and she laughs along.

"Only because people don't know about you and Lestrange. With all due respect, you two make such a hot couple", she smirks and bites her lip, making me guess she's going to comment on the scene earlier, "especially after the scene I saw today. Merlin, beautiful thighs she has", see? I know my best friend!

"Ginny! Stop ogling my girlfriend, ok?", I try to sound irritated, but I know I can't.

"Heh, sorry, I had to share it with you", she offers me a sweet smile.

"No, I'm kidding, I totally know what you mean", and I grin happily – finally the world was at peace again and I got the hottest girlfriend in the mess.

"Hi, Sam", I say in utter teasing tone to my girlfriend, who's busy preparing a potion in an empty dungeon classroom Snape lent her.

"Oh, not again", she mocks annoyance.

"Sorry, it's a bit funny, your nickname", I smile, raising one corner of my lip more than the other.

"Why? It's just my name shortened!", she furrows her brows a bit – leave it to Samantha to make even an expression like that irresistibly sexy; but then again, I'm a little one-sided about it.

"It's so cute and fluffy, not very much like you"

"I can be cute and fluffy, if I want to", she states in a nonchalant whisper.

"Oh, I highly doubt that! I mean, that's just like-"

"I love you, Hermione", I take a while to make the words out.

"What?"

"I said I love your babbling, irritating, nerdy self", oh, Merlin! I can't even keep my lovesick grin, which I try to avoid when I'm with her, and I just pull her into the best kiss we've ever shared.

"I love you too, you conceited, insufferable, devious woman", I whisper, "and you know what's worse? You're being so cute and all I can think about is locking that door over there and..."

"Colloportus", she flickers her wand beautifully, tosses it to the side, pins me against the wall, "hush, now", and leans in to kiss me.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And we're done! Thanks for reading, for the excellent feedback, for the favourites and for the patience with my lack of care with reviewing last chapter. I hope you like my interpretation of Hermione and Ginny, my beautiful Samantha and all that jazz – let me know, I'd be glad to hear all about it. I have plans for more stories about Samantha (if you read my profile, you surely know about it) – do you guys remember the hot girl chatting to Samantha? It has to do with her – Astoria Greengrass. Anyway, if you like the character, you might want to keep tuned to that. That's all, folks!


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